lv2travl

Hi all -- I'll be visiting CA in a week, meeting a friend in Visalia. I've never been to CA before. I'm flying in to San Diego and will drive up to Visalia. I'm looking for a place between these two cities to explore. I like a bit of everything -- I'm into adventure, photography, nice cities, quaint towns. So all options are open for me. Thanks for any insight you may have!

janisj

I personally would not stopover anywhere. It is only a 5 or 6 hour drive and nothing much of interest in between (unless you go hundreds of miles out of your way)

Now,if you wanted to take a couple of days and drive up the coast before crossing over to Viaslia . . . that would be different. San Diego to Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and over to Visalia is about nine hours 'car time'. (or could be much longer if you hit the worst of the San Diego/Orange County/LA traffic)

logandog

"nothing much of interest in between" San Diego and Visalia?
Are you kidding?
The area you are describing is one of the most popular tourism regions of the world.

lv2travl

Hi Janisj -- I realize that the trip to Visalia is only about 5 hours; my friend isn't scheduled to surface from hiking until the next day, ergo, my desire to explore another area between SD and Visalia. I'm thinking Joshua Tree or completely different Manhattan Beach. I'm really all over the place on this one. Logandog -- any ideas?

gigib

Will you be doing some other California sightseeing? How many days do you have and how much sightseeing time do you have? The desert is VERY hot right now.

Suzie

So you have an overnight to use? I think perhaps not knowing that it's hard to say where to go. Thinking about the drive and where you could stop along the way, we imagine you are interested in mostly a direct route but now thinking that you have an overnight we might be able to do better.

The desert areas will be mighty hot next week so you might consider the route along the coast. It's quite beautiful.

You could even stop in for a tour of Hearst Castle in San Simeon before you head out to Visalia.

There are some great beaches along the way like Pismo and Morro Bay.


Also you can stop in and check out Solvang for an hour or so.

janisj

logandog: ""nothing much of interest in between" San Diego and Visalia?
Are you kidding?
The area you are describing is one of the most popular tourism regions of the world."

The direct drive from SD to Visalia would be through the LA basin and up I-5. Sorry, but not a scenic mile in the bunch. And the OP didn't make it clear she has extra time.

That is why I mentioned possibly taking a couple of days and going round about. THEN there would be tons of options.

lv2travl: Since you have a day to play with, go up the coast. Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, or even farther like suzie suggests to San Simeon. I would not go to Joshua Tree -- <red>HOT</red>. And Santa Monica/Manhattan Beach/etc would not be much different that SD.